Christmas Day at Balmoral Castle and the royal family are celebrating alone, apart from the royal chef. The rest of the entourage have been dismissed for the day. At 3pm, as the rest of the country is watching the King's speech on TV, the royal family are preparing to listen to a very different speech. Everyone is expecting the King to abdicate and announce his successor. Just as he begins to speak the King collapses and dies, all indications are that he has been poisoned. With only the royal family present and a blizzard outside everyone is a suspect and the chef has to investigate.
Having recently read Murder Most Royal by S. J. Bennett I was very keen to see how A Murder In The Castle by Chris McGeorge compares. While both are crime novels and feature the royal family they are very different. In the former The Queen is the investigator and all "real" characters are part of the establishment we know. In the later The King is murdered, a King and family from a completely different timeline.
Initially I liked the premise of the story. We're asked to consider what would have happened if Edward VIII hadn't abdicated and his heirs are now on the throne. King Eric would be our current King, he would have two daughters and two grandsons. Other than lineage very little else has changed.
At the grand old age of 85 King Eric has been a popular monarch but is ready to step down and the family fully expect him to announce his eldest grandson as his successor. When he dies during his speech suspicion falls on all the members of the royal family since they are the only people present. A blizzard has ensured that they are snowed in.
I really struggled with the writing style and the fact that absolutely everyone was a suspect. There were far too many red herrings along with huge parts of the novel were very little happened apart from reiterating what we already knew. This resulted in a stilted, slow pace. Some of the characters were thoroughly unlikeable and the rest were so insipid I really didn't care either way about them.
Overall a disappointing read considering the potential at the start of the book.
My thanks to NetGalley and Orion Books for a review copy.
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